The success of talented women leaders

I read an article on McKinsey's site (you need to register to read their articles) about women leaders. It talks about a new leadership model, 'Centered Leadership' and about the importance of happiness and not about work-life balance, but:

"We’ve found that work–life balance is a myth—so the only hope women have is to balance their energy flows."


McKinsey getting all ethereal? Not exactly:

“flow”—a sense of being so engaged by activities that you don’t notice the passage of time—were more productive and derived greater satisfaction from their work than those who did not. Further, it energized rather than drained them.

The more I read the article, the more it made sense. They have developed their leadership model with an understanding that Women Are Different. It takes into account emotional and physical differences and applies the models of success from their research.

Why should leadership be different for women? In a thread on the UK Business Forum, they question Are women-specific business initiatives necessary?. At last look, the poll was 84% 'no'. But McKinsey pointed out that:

"Many women come home from work only to sign onto a second shift - 92% of them still manage all household tasks such as meal preparation and child care."

In my mind that puts a different perspective on things. No matter how fair we want the system to be, statistics prove that top level management has a significantly lower proportion of women than men. Maybe because doing two jobs really is a lot to ask of one person, be they male or female?

There are many leadership programmes and development schemes for women; this is the first time I've seen a leadership model specifically designed around women and developed in response to looking at why, and which, women are successful.